I'm willing to bet that of those deaths, the vast majority did NOT work for one of the major wireless providers. Most likely, they were subcontractors, making $10 an hour, tasked with repairing a tower in 30 minutes. A lot of these "technicians" are little more than kids with pliers who up until the previous week were delivering pizzas in rural America.

Very few of the "real" techs die. I'm sure there's a sad and compelling narrative that illuminates America's inequity somewhere in these deaths, but I'm too frustrated with my lack of bars to find it.

I used to climb short towers while I was in the Air Force - only 40 to 50 feet tall - to replace and put up antennas and run cables. That used to scare the hell out of me, and I used (and checked) safety gear reliably. The standards are there, and the suits and enforcement actions will likely curb it over time, but the real key is to educate, provide safe equipment, and pay appropriately, along with real supervision. It's not worth dying for someone's cell service. This is fixable. Easily.

I'm willing to bet that of those deaths, the vast majority did NOT work for one of the major wireless providers. Most likely, they were subcontractors, making $10 an hour, tasked with repairing a tower in 30 minutes. A lot of these "technicians" are little more than kids with pliers who up until the previous week were delivering pizzas in rural America.

I agree. The carriers manage to subcontract this work to absolve themselves of liability, training, and equipment responsibilities.

I'm willing to bet that of those deaths, the vast majority did NOT work for one of the major wireless providers. Most likely, they were subcontractors, making $10 an hour, tasked with repairing a tower in 30 minutes. A lost of these "technicians" are little more than kids with pliers who up until the previous week were delivering pizzas in rural America.

Very few of the "real" techs die. I'm sure there's a sad and compelling narrative that illuminates American's inequity somewhere in these deaths, but I'm too frustrated with my lack of bars to find it.

This alarming, tragic trend must not be allowed to continue. This rapidly accelerating death toll makes it only too clear what is needed: Government simply must get out of the way! Regulation must be eliminated so that the healing powers of free markets are unshackled & allowed to exercise their extraordinary mojo.

FREE MARKETS: It's good for what ails 'ya!(Provided you buy this from me NOW, don't ask questions & don't obstruct a clear path out of town!) Now, that'll be, how much do you have?

This alarming, tragic trend must not be allowed to continue. This rapidly accelerating death toll makes it only too clear what is needed: Government simply must get out of the way! Regulation must be eliminated so that the healing powers of free markets are unshackled & allowed to exercise their extraordinary mojo.

Yes let the companies do whatever they want in terms of safety. Humans life are not worth anything. This is not government business... Stay the hell out!!! .... The sarcasm is just in my skin!!!

A very disturbing trend. Just wondering if these deaths were the result of falls or were they somehow electrocuted? I would imagine the transmitters must be rather powerful, but I confess I really don't know.

A very disturbing trend. Just wondering if these deaths were the result of falls or were they somehow electrocuted? I would imagine the transmitters must be rather powerful, but I confess I really don't know.

Well, if you get shocked and then fall, but when they get to you you are dead; it was clearly the fall that got you and falls are operator error.

Hmm, if these companies haven't already settled with the families, I wonder how many of the families are now going to sue the telcos for wrongful death.

I bet that if you think the mandatory binding arbitration clause you "agree" to if you want cell service is nasty, you'd turn a funny shade of purple if you see the one that these contractors probably had to sign...

Short of demonstrating that the board was standing at the base of the tower, with paintball guns, and betting on who could dislodge a tech first, I wouldn't fancy your chances.

The chairman of Verizon Wireless makes like 30 million dollars a year, the most dangerous thing he has ever done is sharpen a pencil..

Actually you're wrong about that. Verizon CEO made $14 million in 2012. And note how Verizon had 2 deaths between 2003 and 2011.

AT&T CEO on the other hand made $21 million in 2012 and had 15 deaths between 2003 to 2011...

So I don't see why you are railing on Verizon when it would seem like the company would rather spend its money on its operations (and operational safety) rather than award its CEOs with excessive compensation...

My guess is that it's a ppe problem, people just don't like wearing it. My two story home has a roof that is about a 45 degree angle, a couple years back we had it redone. When the guys where doing it none of them tied off, these where professionals who our mortgage company deal with. PPE, people don't like it, even when they know that it will save their life.

"This disturbing trend appears to be continuing, with ... four worker deaths occurring in the first five weeks of 2014.”

It is worth noting that 3 of this years deaths occurred in (practically) the same incident: 2 workers were killed when a tower they were strengthening collapsed and that collapse, later, caused an guy tower to fail, killing a responding fireman.

One carrier, AT&T, had more fatalities on its jobs than its three closest competitors combined, our reporting revealed. Fifteen climbers died on jobs for AT&T since 2003. Over the same period, five climbers died on T-Mobile jobs, two died on Verizon jobs, and one died on a job for Sprint.

http://www.wirelessestimator.com is an industry forum with a lot of background on the dangers and history and is well worth a read. It's not as simple as undertrained new climbers, there's a fair amount of cowboyism involved too.

And while cell companies have no climbers themselves, they set their subcontractors' schedules.

The chairman of Verizon Wireless makes like 30 million dollars a year, the most dangerous thing he has ever done is sharpen a pencil..

Actually you're wrong about that. Verizon CEO made $14 million in 2012. And note how Verizon had 2 deaths between 2003 and 2011.

AT&T CEO on the other hand made $21 million in 2012 and had 15 deaths between 2003 to 2011...

So I don't see why you are railing on Verizon when it would seem like the company would rather spend its money on its operations (and operational safety) rather than award its CEOs with excessive compensation...

Don't be naive. The telcos use contractors for a majority of this work, so they may have been working on Verizon towers, but not verizon employees. The numbers for the telcos themselves are low because they primarily use contractors.

Hmm, if these companies haven't already settled with the families, I wonder how many of the families are now going to sue the telcos for wrongful death.

Not to mention people who don't die, but are crippled for life? Medical expenses can easily hit tens of millions of dollars if you want that person to enjoy life instead of get depressed/suicidal.

Sadly the medical expenses often end up not being paid, and these people have the rest of their life ruined.

I think the Telco should be liable.

If someone breaks their knee because Telco didn't make sure proper safety precautions are in place, then the Telco should have to pay $50,000,000,000 to cover not just the knee surgery/recovery, but also the worst possible complications that can come from a high risk process like replacing someone's knee.

For example an infection that spreads to the brain and causes neurological damage... which is what my mum is currently being treated for in intensive care after having a knee operation. Her knee injury happened 8 years ago, and it wasn't until last week that it cascaded into something far more serious and expensive. Her $2,500,000 injury compensation lawsuit covered the original expenses... but it's not covering this. And before anyone asks, no she didn't see a single dollar of the money. It all went into the health system.

This alarming, tragic trend must not be allowed to continue. This rapidly accelerating death toll makes it only too clear what is needed: Government simply must get out of the way! Regulation must be eliminated so that the healing powers of free markets are unshackled & allowed to exercise their extraordinary mojo.

Yes let the companies do whatever they want in terms of safety. Humans life are not worth anything. This is not government business... Stay the hell out!!! .... The sarcasm is just in my skin!!!

You know, exactly! Intentional, knowing, calculated malfeasance shouldn't be tolerated & should result in prison time. And it must start at & top & "trickle down" from there.

I'm not "anti-corporate" or "anti-labor" or dogmatically aligned on virtually any topic, save a couple: I will always denounce ANY intentional exploitation of people (the environment, dogs ... etc.) & I will always support & defend ANY informed action leading the the BEST possible outcome. I understand cost structures. Safety has an associated expense. Until the willful act of promoting unsafe practices also carries commensurate costs, including appropriate punishment, apparently it's "okay" for everyone to be the biggest dick they can be.

Except it's not okay to do the wrong thing. Of course some circumstances are "complicated", but rarely is there any grave doubt over which course is the right one.

The chairman of Verizon Wireless makes like 30 million dollars a year, the most dangerous thing he has ever done is sharpen a pencil..

Actually you're wrong about that. Verizon CEO made $14 million in 2012. And note how Verizon had 2 deaths between 2003 and 2011.

AT&T CEO on the other hand made $21 million in 2012 and had 15 deaths between 2003 to 2011...

So I don't see why you are railing on Verizon when it would seem like the company would rather spend its money on its operations (and operational safety) rather than award its CEOs with excessive compensation...

Don't be naive. The telcos use contractors for a majority of this work, so they may have been working on Verizon towers, but not verizon employees. The numbers for the telcos themselves are low because they primarily use contractors.

While you are correct, compare these two quotes from this ProPublica story:

Quote:

But subcontractors often contract out jobs to other subcontractors. As jobs are passed down from one company to the next, there’s less ability to control who’s actually doing the work, said Mark Hein, who has worked for several turf vendors as a construction manager.

...

Turf vendors also take a cut of what carriers pay for tower work – sometimes 40 percent or more – so subcontractors say they make less on these jobs.

In AT&T contracts examined by ProPublica and PBS “Frontline,” the carrier requires turf vendors to reduce their prices 5 percent each year over the three-year term of the contract. These reductions are typically passed through to subcontractors, industry insiders said.

“Guess who takes the hit? The next level [down],” said a construction manager for a turf vendor. “I’m not going to reduce the amount of money I take.”

Compared to this:

Quote:

Verizon, which hires subcontractors directly, tends to work with the same select group of climbing companies over and over, paying them more, subcontractors say. David Coleman, an industry analyst at RBC Capital Markets, described becoming a Verizon subcontractor as the “golden ticket.”

As of mid-2011, the four major carriers had varying numbers of cell sites: Verizon had 44,250, T-Mobile had 50,143, AT&T had 56,070 and Sprint had 67,500, according to data from US Wireless 411, a report by UBS.

For that many towers the number of deaths should be zero in my opinion. Nobody should be climbing up a tower without a full safety harness and rope to keep them alive.

Working on cell towers should not be a life threatening job.[/quote]

Full safety harness, retractable lanyard attached at top with a lead line, rescue plan, and a climbing helmet. Any of these missing or in poor condition and they will not be safe.No helmet = possible head injury in a short fallRetractable lanyard = arrests sudden fall within inchesRescue plan = you can die of suspension trauma after just 15 minutes hanging in a D ring harness. A plan to get you down fast is required.

I have seen roofers on a municipal fire station wearing brand new harnesses, tied off to nothing. Obviously someone knew they had to get them harnesses, but with no tie off locations or equipment they are useless save for lifting someone out of a hole.

Background - fall arrest trained, i work in oil and gas. I generally drive a desk but do get into the field. O&G has some of the best performance for personnel safety of industry will a similar work-at-heights profile. Commercial and residential construction is the worst.

Hmm, if these companies haven't already settled with the families, I wonder how many of the families are now going to sue the telcos for wrongful death.

They should have at it, the telcos have plenty $$ to throw around. Sue their pants off, that's the only thing that would convince them to care.

Actually, I don't think even then they would care unless it really effects their profits. I always think of some big drug scandal several years back. They lost the class action and had to pay something like a billion but maid 2B from the drug so it really didn't hurt them. I'm sure they didn't like it, but I'm also sure it was with it to them.

I'm willing to bet that of those deaths, the vast majority did NOT work for one of the major wireless providers. Most likely, they were subcontractors, making $10 an hour, tasked with repairing a tower in 30 minutes. A lot of these "technicians" are little more than kids with pliers who up until the previous week were delivering pizzas in rural America.

Bingo! 15ish years ago when I worked for a proto-AT&T carrier as a switch tech, the field techs were forbidden most strongly from climbing. Back then, we hired experienced firms for the work, but I'm sure they've squeezed the responsible companies out for being too expensive ages ago.

For that many towers the number of deaths should be zero in my opinion. Nobody should be climbing up a tower without a full safety harness and rope to keep them alive.

Working on cell towers should not be a life threatening job.

Full safety harness, retractable lanyard attached at top with a lead line, rescue plan, and a climbing helmet. Any of these missing or in poor condition and they will not be safe.No helmet = possible head injury in a short fallRetractable lanyard = arrests sudden fall within inchesRescue plan = you can die of suspension trauma after just 15 minutes hanging in a D ring harness. A plan to get you down fast is required.

I have seen roofers on a municipal fire station wearing brand new harnesses, tied off to nothing. Obviously someone knew they had to get them harnesses, but with no tie off locations or equipment they are useless save for lifting someone out of a hole.

Background - fall arrest trained, i work in oil and gas. I generally drive a desk but do get into the field. O&G has some of the best performance for personnel safety of industry will a similar work-at-heights profile. Commercial and residential construction is the worst.

Yeah, exactly. My brother cuts down trees for a living, he has a similar setup (although more complicated... since he's cutting down the tree that his safety equipment is often attached to).

I'm sure all this stuff is technically required by the major telcos, but is it actually done? Obviously not. They need to fix that somehow.

Wow... I have so much ambivalence about this...not the the undecided kind, the "of two minds" kind. Growing up, I worked in dangerous situations and found it to be a blast; I free climbed until my instructor fell and snapped his ankle, I rode skateboards down extreme inclines at night because it was fun, played (literally) with explosives in the Army because I like to blow things up, and did very dangerous things at high altitudes in aerial vehicles that normal people would never even think of doing.That said, I am a huge proponent these days of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), so much so that my wife makes fun of me for wearing goggles, earplugs and sometimes a dust-mask while using a gas-operated blower around the yard. Having been on the bottom end of the pay-scale, I can totally understand why an (relatively) unskilled worker takes a dangerous job (if you want to make bank, do one of the three D's, Dirty, Dangerous, or Difficult). If there is the added adolescent rush of doing something "extreme", it might seem like a bonus. Now that I am a bit older, and not doing that "fun stuff" I can step back and say that the negligence starts at the Sub that puts a worker in danger due to lack of training, knowledge or enforcement, on the General Contractor for not inspecting his Subs and enforcing safety, but especially the originators of the contract requirement that doesn't care about safety. Then again...the number of Tower Climber deaths is a wee bit less than my former line of work and the American public is not upset...

I used to climb short towers while I was in the Air Force - only 40 to 50 feet tall - to replace and put up antennas and run cables. That used to scare the hell out of me, and I used (and checked) safety gear reliably. The standards are there, and the suits and enforcement actions will likely curb it over time, but the real key is to educate, provide safe equipment, and pay appropriately, along with real supervision. It's not worth dying for someone's cell service. This is fixable. Easily.

[quote Tsur wrote:I'm willing to bet that of those deaths, the vast majority did NOT work for one of the major wireless providers. Most likely, they were subcontractors, making $10 an hour, tasked with repairing a tower in 30 minutes. A lot of these "technicians" are little more than kids with pliers who up until the previous week were delivering pizzas in rural America. [/quote]

I used to work doing Telco tower work and yes they are under pressure but there is training available to the new hires the question is whether or not they pay attention to it. If I didn't trust a guy I was working with, he didn't climb the tower. Most of the telcos rent/lease the towers they are on. So that 4GLTE BS in the advertising is just that Tower leasing allows the telcos to move their coverage around to accommodate their customers' loading. Somebody builds a new subdivision, maybe a new tower goes up or a new antenna array and cell system.